Saturday Songs – Oct. 8

1. “Fingers Crossed” – Allison Weiss

A boppy, power-pop song that sounds almost as good acoustic as it does with a full band, “Fingers Crossed” manages a restrained, atmospheric feel through its verses before bursting at scenes during dynamic choruses. Drawing heavily from Tegan & Sara, Weiss keeps the vocals soft and relaxed during those verses and appropriately turns it up during the choruses; you can hear a little grit, a little fright, a little courage.

As long as Weiss balances songs like this with slower, wistful numbers like the equally excellent July 25 2007—a simple, sad song that needs no backing other than acoustic guitar to really punch you in the gut. 

Download for free here!

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2. “Shady Esperanto and Young Hearts” – Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers

Hailing from independent music Mecca Northampton, Massachusetts, Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers trounced me with this elegant pop number. In the tradition of great pop bands like The Lemonheads, the group keeps is simple and catchy on “Shady Esperanto.” The most complicated part of the song is probably the tinkling piano during the choruses or the snappy hand-clapping in the background. Other than that, it sounds like a group of friends having fun in the studio.

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3. “Topanga Canyon” – John Phillips

From one of my favorite so-called “lost albums,” “Topanga Canyon” comes off of Phillips’s first solo effort John, the Wolfking of L.A. Written in the wake of the break-up of Phillips’s former band The Mamas and the Papas and in the midst of a serious cocaine addiction, the song tells the story of a drug pick-up by Phillips in the artistic community of Topanga Canyon.

With its meditative pace and laconic narrator, the song suggests that maybe everything fine, despite the narrator’s admission in the chorus:

“Oh Mary, I'm in the deep waters
and it's way, way over my head.
Everyone thought I was smarter
than to be this dead.”

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4. “All The Pretty Girls” – fun.

A band I first listened to not so long ago, fun. is one of those bands who writes songs I’m tempted to describe as “abysmally catchy.” They are the kind of songs that are like saltwater taffy or Swedish Fish—unbelievably sugary and sweet and wonderful—but sometimes there are aftereffects of discomfort. An album by fun. is a little much to tack in a straight listen-through, but individual songs are certainly worth a listen.

Like a manic cross-polination of Electric Light Orchestra and Queen, “All The Pretty Girls” is chock-full of (almost) mechanically perfect harmonies and expertly timed percussion taps and trills and hits à la Queen and once you add in the string parts and the clearly-processed backing vocals (see E.L.O.’s “Sweet Talkin’ Woman), you’ve got a bizarrely fascinating song.

If that song isn’t enough to incite some serious investigation into fun., then “Benson Hedges,” with its simultaneous gospel introduction and its tinkling piano midsection that could pass for either Meatloaf or even one of Styx’s more rocking moments, should probably do it for you. Listen to “Benson Hedges” here.

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5. “Rachel’s Song” – Stiff Whisker and the Driftwood Kids

http://www.myspace.com/stiffwhiskerandthedriftwoodkids

A cover of James McMurtry’s elegiac song off his album Where’d You Hide The Body, Stiff Whisker and the Driftwood Kids make some wise decisions recording this song. Most importantly, they slow everything down, allowing the song to breathe a little. McMurtry’s version—as much as I love it—tends to rush the song, not allowing the song’s imagery to really settle in the listener’s mind.

In terms of vocals, Stiff Whisker really couldn’t have gone wrong. McMurtry has a gritty, sandpaper sort of voice and, often enough, fails to provide the sort of tone and measured approach most expect from vocalists. This band, however, does the added bonus of sharing the vocal duties between a male and a female voices, sometimes singing harmony, other times tackling lines on their own.